Biological, biochemical and chemical analyses are often performed in a microplate format. Standard format microplates are promulgated by the Society for Biomolecular Screening (SBS). Of these, 96-well, 384-well, and 1536-well microplates are commonly used in scientific, analytical, and diagnostic pursuits. The SBS format enjoys an ecosystem of instrumentation suppliers for automated liquid handling, incubation, plate reading, plate storage and plate handling.
An alternate microwell format based on hydrophobic/hydrophilic patterning together with associated methods and instrumentation is described in WO2008/063136, published May 29, 2008. That publication also describes methods and devices for performing inhomogeneous assays using the format. This format combines advantages of microarrays and microplates. For example the format allows for parallel washing of adhered samples at high throughput. Arrays with hydrophilic elements in a hydrophobic background are available commercially; e.g., PTFE printed slides from TEKDON, Myakka City, Fla., USA.